


not to us (our hearts beat in turn)

by cold_cereal



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Father Figures, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Post-War, Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra, Sokka is Su's Dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25099741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_cereal/pseuds/cold_cereal
Summary: Toph is absolutely sure of two things in life: Sokka never lies and his heart is always steady.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Suyin Beifong & Toph Beifong, Sokka & Suyin Beifong & Lin Beifong, Sokka & Suyin Beifong & Lin Beifong & Toph Beifong, Toph Beifong & Sokka, Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 38
Kudos: 286





	not to us (our hearts beat in turn)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unchargedlife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unchargedlife/gifts).



> I finished re-watching The Legend of Korra, and my friend Sophia planted the idea of Tokka in my head, so this is what emerged. Thank you Sophia for always encouraging me, and for being my best friend. This is for you, bitch. :)

Toph woke with the sun warm on her skin, and her body sore in all the right ways. Despite lying naked on the floor, only covered by a thin blanket, she was relaxed and only slightly hung over from the festivities of last night. For a moment, everything was fine, and then she heard him take in a deep breath. She felt the familiar, steady, and strong heartbeat, and the regret came rushing in.

She had taken advantage of him. He had been drunk, and so had she, and she had been harboring this stupid _crush_ since she was twelve, and she _knew_ it had been a while since he last got laid, because he _told_ her because they were _friends_ and Toph had gone and taken advantage of that, and then she was waking up beside Sokka on the floor next to her bed in her apartment. She knew his heartbeat better than anyone’s; she had spent months listening to it when they were traveling during the War. She knew that if Sokka was frightened, things were bad. Toph never let herself be afraid unless Sokka was. He kept his cool, and his heart rate hardly ever sped up in times of duress. The only times she had felt it quicken with fear were when someone he loved was in danger. During the final battle, Toph had felt his pulse through his fingers as she clung to him. She was dangling in the air, completely blind, but Sokka was there, her literal anchor. And his heart was fluttering, faster than she had ever felt it before. 

Sokka’s heart rate didn’t speed up. It remained steady as Toph slid out from underneath the blanket and moved through her apartment. She pulled on some clothes at random, and then went to her kitchen. She sat as still as a rock at the table, waiting for Sokka to wake up. Then she could get Lin from Air Temple Island where she had spent the night with Kya, and she could put the whole thing behind her, and try her best to forget it ever happened. Because Sokka didn’t like her like that. He couldn’t. He was in a rut, and she had been available and practically throwing herself at him. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. She was thirty-nine years old and still crushing on a guy she had met when she was twelve. Pathetic, really.

Toph felt movement in the ground beneath her feet, and heard Sokka groan as he woke up. He mumbled to himself as he stood up. “I’m too fucking old to be sleeping on the floor. Where the hell are my pants?” She felt him wander around her room, obviously in search of his pants. She heard him make a noise of triumph, and then felt him stumble into a wall as he tried to pull his pants on. The whole time, she kept waiting for the jump in his heart rate when he realized he was in her apartment and had just woken up naked. It never came. Sokka’s heartbeat remained steady. “Toph?” he called out, finally leaving her bedroom. 

“Yeah?” she said.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling out a chair from her kitchen table. She felt him turn it backwards, and then straddle it. 

“I need to pick up Lin.” Sokka was calm. How was he calm? Sokka wasn’t afraid, so why was she? Her hands never shook; why were they now?  
“It’s only seven in the morning. I doubt Kya and Lin are even awake yet,” he yawned. 

“Yeah, well.” She picked at her nails, a bad habit picked up in the last few years, shortly after Lin was born. Katara called it anxiety. Toph wasn’t inclined to believe her. 

Sokka took a deep breath. “What’s wrong?” Toph opened her mouth to say that nothing was wrong, but Sokka laid his hand on her arm. “I know you don’t like talking about your feelings, but something is wrong, and I can’t help but feel like I could have something to do with it.”

“Why would you think that?” she asked. 

He let out a huff of air, preparing himself to say something he probably didn’t want to. “You’re picking your nails. You never do that unless you’re worried, and you never worry about anything other than Lin. And I know you can’t be worried about Lin right now, because she’s with Katara and Aang, and you know they would never let anything happen to her. So, unless something happened between the time you woke up and the time I woke up, it must have something to do with the fact that I woke up naked on the floor of your apartment.”

“Do you remember what happened?” she whispered, and she didn’t know what answer she was hoping for. 

“Yeah. I remember everything. Especially that thing you did with your hands and your tongue. How did you-” Sokka cut himself off. “Sorry. Um. I remember. I wasn’t that drunk, you know.”

And she hadn’t been either. “I’m sorry,” she told him. 

She felt his surprise in the way his body froze for half a second. “Toph, for what?”

“Taking advantage of you.”

“I would argue it was a mutual thing. And I quite enjoyed it, honestly.”

“Sokka! I’m being serious!” she yelled. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

“Why not?”

She was angry. Why wasn’t Sokka furious with her? “Because I took advantage of you. You told me it had been nine months since the last time you had sex.”

“Okay, and? Now it’s been approximately seven hours. Thank you for that.” 

“I shouldn’t have tried to seduce you.” Not when there’s no way he felt the same way. 

“You didn’t try. You succeeded.” Something on her face must have tipped him off that she wasn’t in the mood for jokes, because his voice got softer, and he took her hand and placed it over his chest, which was still bare, so she could feel his heart better, feel his breathing. “Toph, I am forty-two years old. I am more than capable of making decisions for myself, even when I have had a few drinks. I’m no lightweight. I _wanted_ to.”

He wasn’t lying. Toph could feel that clearly. Sokka had never once lied to Toph, and she doubted he would start now. “Sokka, I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Her hand was still pressed to his chest, his hand over hers. 

“I don’t want a relationship.” She didn’t have time for one between managing the police force and being a mother to Lin. 

“Who said anything about a relationship? I know you, Toph. I know you don’t like to be tied down. It’s not like you deflowered me, you know. I’m not going to be asking for your hand in marriage. We’re friends, and we’re adults. We can be mature about this.”

“You don’t hate me?”

“I could never.” His heart rate didn’t change in the slightest. “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean everything is going to change. We can still be friends. We’re both mature people.” 

“You’re really not mad at me?” she asked again.

“No. I am not mad at you.” 

“Okay.”

“You believe me?” he said. 

“I can tell you’re telling the truth.” She squeezed his chest lightly, and then withdrew her hand. 

“I know you can.” Toph could hear the smile in his voice. “You wanna get breakfast? I’ll pay. A new Southern Water Tribe restaurant opened a few blocks from here. Katara said it’s pretty good, really authentic. Wanna try it out?”

“As long as you’re paying,” she teased. 

“I already said I would. Lemme find my shirt first, hold on.”

Toph smiled. Things could be normal. She hadn’t ruined everything.

* * *

She had ruined everything. Toph couldn’t bake for shit, but she had promised Lin she would make her a cake for her sixth birthday. How hard could baking a cake really be? Fucking impossible, apparently. She felt Lin wander into the kitchen. “Mama, something smells burnt.”

“Shit,” she muttered. She could smell it, too. “Lin, baby, I’m trying really hard to make you this cake, but I just can’t seem to do it.”

“Did you read the directions?” Lin demanded. Toph could feel her cross her arms over her chest. Spirits, this kid was a carbon fucking copy of her. 

“I can’t see, so I can’t read.”

“Just learn how to,” her daughter suggested. 

She felt anger flare up inside her. “Oh, just learn how to-” Toph stopped, and took a deep breath. This was her daughter, not some fresh off the beat cop who thinks they know everything. “It’s not that easy. I’ll figure something out, it just might take a while.” 

As if on cue, she felt Sokka approach her apartment door, and then he knocked. “Who’s here?” Lin asked. 

“Uncle Sokka. Go open the door.”

“Uncle Sokka!” Lin cried, and ran to the door. 

Toph felt the door scrape across the floor, and Sokka dropped to one knee to hug Lin. “Hey, birthday girl!” he greeted. Based on Lin’s squeal and the fact that Toph couldn’t feel her through the floor anymore, it was a good bet that Sokka had swung her daughter up onto his shoulders. “What’s been going on with you today?”

“Mama’s been trying to make a cake.” Lin dropped her voice to a whisper. “It’s not going well.” 

“She’s trying. That’s all that matters, right?”

“I guess,” she muttered, and Toph swore she could feel Lin’s eye roll. 

“Maybe I can help her. And then we can all go to Air Temple Island to celebrate, yeah?” Sokka said. 

“Yeah!” 

Toph felt Lin’s feet hit the ground again as Sokka took her off his shoulders. “Why don’t you go put some actual clothes on, and I’ll see if I can help your mom.”

“Good luck,” she said. “She’s burned two cakes. I counted.”

Sokka chuckled. “I’m sure we can figure something out. Now go, get dressed.” Once Lin had gone off to her room, Sokka walked into the kitchen and leaned against the fridge. “Two cakes, huh?”

“It’s not my fault! I can’t exactly read the instructions,” Toph protested, arms crossed over her chest. 

“So why did you offer to make her a cake?”

Toph shrugged. “She asked.”

“So you do have a soft side,” he teased. 

She molded her meteorite bracelet into a small pebble, and flicked it at Sokka’s forehead. 

“Ow! Hey!”

Toph wrapped the rock back around her wrist and grinned. “You deserved that.”

“Maybe.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice a little. “Do you want help with the cake thing?”

“You’re as bad as I am with this baking shit, pal,” she pointed out.

“At least I can read.”

She punched him in the arm. 

He wheezed in pain. “Okay, that one was deserved. But I have a plan.”

“Okay, Mr. Idea Guy. What’s your plan?” Toph was willing to do anything at this point just to make Lin happy. She wasn’t home much, and Lin spent a lot of time either on Air Temple Island with the air acolytes and Aang and Katara’s kids or with babysitters. It was Toph’s first real day off in a long time, and she wanted Lin’s sixth birthday to be good, something she could look back on later and smile about. 

“You must be really desperate if you agreed to my help so quickly,” Sokka observed. “What’s going on?”

Toph was _tired_. She was raising Lin on her own because Kanto was a useless piece of shit whose only good contribution to the world was Lin, and Lin was lucky enough to not inherit his worst features. She only seemed to inherit his height. Everything else was all Toph, especially the earth bending skills that were beginning to show. So Toph was raising her daughter, a newly discovered earth bender, on her own while also running a police force. Not to mention she had to teach Lin how to earth bend, because she didn’t trust anyone else to teach her correctly. So she was a little overwhelmed. 

“I’ve just been stressed lately. A lot’s been going on,” she admitted. This was Sokka. She could trust Sokka. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he offered. 

The ground beneath them shook, and the dresser in Lin’s room toppled over. “Mama! Mama, I’m okay! But I knocked the dresser over! I think it’s broken,” she yelled. A small part of Toph wished her kid had been a non-bender, then she wouldn’t have to worry about her daughter knocking over furniture. Not with earth bending, at least.

Toph sighed. “Not right now. Tell me your plan.”

Sokka placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and then launched into explaining his plan. Toph took Lin out to buy a toy for her birthday. Sokka gave them the money for that and said Lin could pick out anything she wanted. It was his gift to her. While Toph and Lin were out shopping, Sokka went to a bakery in the city and bought an undecorated cake. He took it back to Toph’s apartment and decorated it himself. He finished just as Toph and Lin returned, and Lin was over the moon. 

“Not a bad plan,” Toph told him as they took a ferry over to Air Temple Island. Lin was sat curled underneath Sokka’s arm, and the poorly, but lovingly, decorated cake was resting on Toph’s lap. 

“It’s been known to happen.” He bumped his shoulder against Toph’s. She knew he was smiling.

* * *

Toph knew the week after Lin’s birthday. She woke up and immediately had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Her center of gravity had felt like it had been shifting recently, though it was barely noticeable, even to her. Not to mention she had been feeling more emotional lately and stressed out. It was the same as it had been with Lin, and even though Toph knew, she still took a ferry to Air Temple Island one morning before she had to go into work to confirm it, Lin in tow. 

“You’re very early in the pregnancy,” Katara said, still running water over Toph’s body as she examined her. The kids were out playing in the courtyard. “You’re maybe only six weeks along.”

“I figured. That was the last time-” Fuck. 

“Do you know who the father is?”

 _Your brother._ “No. It was just a random hook up.”

Katara, to her credit, didn’t say anything about her being more careful. The damage had been done. “Are you going to keep it?”

Toph sat up in the pool of water, and planted her feet on the ground. She focused on Katara’s heartbeat and her breathing as best she could while standing in the water. “What other choice do I have?” Toph asked. 

“You could give it up for adoption. Or have an abortion.” Katara’s heart stayed steady. 

“An abortion? Really?”

“They’re safer now, Toph. They’re not what they used to be. I’ve even performed a few at the clinic in the city. No one would judge you. You already have so much on your plate.”

Toph considered it, for a split second, but the baby was Sokka’s. “No. I’m having the baby.”

“We’ll all be here for you, through the whole thing. Me, Aang, Sokka. I’m sure even Zuko would love to help.”

Her heart constricted. “I know. You all helped with Lin.” Katara had delivered Lin into the world. Aang had told her the first time that he held Lin, he knew she was going to be a powerful bender; he could feel it in her spirit. And Sokka had described Lin to her in great detail. From head to toe. Zuko was constrained to the Fire Nation most of the time, but he still came down to visit, and was always so good with Lin. They had all helped Toph raise her daughter in one way or another, and Toph knew they would all do the same with this baby, too. 

“It’s not gonna be easy, Toph.”

She felt like crying. It wouldn’t be easy, because she knew the father and knew he would drop everything to be there for his kid. And that was why she couldn’t tell him. 

“Toph?” Katara said, placing her hand gently on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I really fucked up, Katara. I really, really did,” she whispered, voice thick and full of emotion. 

“It’s gonna be alright. I’ll make sure of it.” 

Toph wanted to believe Katara, but she just couldn’t.

* * *

“When were you going to tell me?” Sokka demanded. He was in her office at the police station, and he was angry. She could feel the rage rolling off him. 

“Tell you what?” she asked, sitting down behind her desk. 

Sokka surged forward and planted his hands on her desk, leaning forward. “Don’t play stupid, Toph,” he snapped. “You took yourself out of the field. The last time you did that, Lin popped out nine months later.”

“Maybe I’m tired of being in the field.”

“ _Toph._ ”

She sighed and dropped her chin to her chest. “I only found out last week. Only Katara knows.”

She felt him shift his weight and his heart rate speed up. Her own heart jumped in her chest. “Is it- Is it mine?”

Here were the facts of the case: Toph was thirty-nine years old, she was the Chief of the police of Republic City, and she already had one bastard child to a deadbeat father. Sokka was the Southern Water Tribe and non-bender representative on the Council in Republic City. The people didn’t care what Toph did in her free time or in her personal life as long as she caught the bad guys. As long as she kept the city safe, nobody gave a rat’s ass about her life. Sokka was different. He was a Councilman, always in the public eye. Everything he did was analyzed and picked apart. He was on track to succeed his father as the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. A child born not just out of wedlock, but also out of a one night stand, would tarnish his image, and he would never become the Chief, or keep his seat on the Council. And Toph knew that Sokka was one of the good ones and there were plenty of power hungry and awful people just waiting for an opportunity to get into a position of power. If it got out that Sokka was having a child with the Chief of Police, a child out of wedlock, he would lose everything, and someone horrible could take his place, and throw the city, and possibly the world, into disorder. 

So, Toph said, “No,” because as much as she wanted this child to grow up and know their father, the world needed Sokka more.

* * *

Sokka and Lin thought Toph was asleep on the couch in Sokka’s living room, but she was wide awake. Her back hurt too much to really sleep, and as tired as she was, she couldn’t seem to slip into unconsciousness. So she laid as still as possible and just listened to Sokka and her daughter play. 

“Are you excited to have a new brother or sister?” Sokka asked. Lin had been getting asked that a lot lately, and she always had the same answer: “I don’t care.” So Toph was a little surprised when Lin said, “I’m scared.”

“What?” Sokka said, and Toph could hear the worry laced in his words. “Why?”

“I dunno. What if they don’t like me?”

“Linny, of course they’ll like you. Who doesn’t?” 

Lin giggled, so Sokka must have tickled her. “The boy who lives across from Mama and I doesn’t like me,” she said a few moments later, all mirth gone from her voice. 

Toph hated Lohon. He was an annoying little motherfucker and was always picking on Lin. 

“What makes you say that?” Sokka asked. 

“He’s always pulling my hair and calling me names. He’s older than me and he’s an earth bender, too, so he’s always throwing rocks at me. And I’m not very good at earth bending yet! So it isn’t fair! His mom never stops him. She just says he likes me, which is stupid. If he does, why does he keep hurting me?” Lin rambled. 

“He sounds like a bitch,” Sokka muttered, and then slapped his hand over his mouth. “Don’t repeat that.”

Toph fought back a smile. She’d never really watched her mouth around Lin. She figured her daughter would hear the words eventually, and Toph had never been a fan of censoring herself. Sokka, though, was always careful to never swear around any children. His reasoning was that he didn’t need Bumi running around the city saying Councilman Sokka taught him the word fuck, but Toph knew it was because when he was younger, his grandmother used to yell at Hakoda anytime he swore around the kids, and the fear of being reprimanded by his Gran Gran for swearing around kids still ran deep. 

“What if the baby is like Lohon?” Lin asked. 

“Is that his name?” Lin must have nodded, because Sokka continued. “It sounds like Lohon isn’t a very nice person. His mom isn’t doing a good job of raising him right now. But your mom is a good mom, right?”

“The best,” Lin agreed, and that made Toph’s heart hurt. 

“Exactly. So if Lohon is that way because his mom isn’t being very good right now, how would your new sibling become like him when they have the same mom as you, and you turned out so great?” 

“I guess you’re right.”

“Having a sibling isn’t easy, you know,” Sokka told her.

“Why?”

“You’ve seen Bumi and Kya fight before. That can get pretty intense.”

“Will my sibling and I fight like that?”

“All the time. Aunt Katara and I used to fight like that when we were kids, and we still do sometimes. But I love my sister, and I always will.” 

Toph heard Lin walk across the living room to the couch she was pretending to sleep on. Lin placed her hands on Toph’s stomach, which was big and round now that she was eight months along, and pressed her lips to Toph’s stomach. “You don’t know me yet,” Lin whispered to her stomach, “but I’m your big sister. Uncle Sokka said we’re gonna fight sometimes, but I’m still gonna love you.” She leaned back from her stomach. “Uncle Sokka, come tell the baby you love it.” 

Sokka walked over to the couch and placed his hands gently on either side of Toph’s belly. Toph normally hated people touching her stomach, but Sokka’s hands were big and warm, and she felt safe and protected. She could feel his heartbeat through his fingertips. He leaned down and kissed her stomach, before whispering, “I love you, Baby Beifong. I can’t wait to meet you.” He stood back up. “Okay, Linny, let’s leave your mom alone. I say we go out and get lunch and let her rest.”

“Can we bring food back for her so she doesn’t feel left out?”

“Of course. Now come on, put shoes on,” Sokka said.

“Mama doesn’t wear shoes.”

“Mama is special.”

“I’m special, too.”

Sokka laughed. “Yes, you are, but your mom uses her feet to see, and your eyes work just fine, so you have to wear shoes.”

“Ugh. Fine,” Lin pouted, and stormed off in search of her shoes. 

Sokka lingered, and placed one hand on Toph’s forehead, pushing her hair back. Her heart fluttered in her chest. “And I love you, too, Toph Beifong.” She could feel his steady heart through his hand on her head.

* * *

Toph went into labor just as autumn was beginning. Naturally, Aang and Katara had taken their kids to the Fire Nation for some diplomatic trip, so Toph had to go to the clinic in the city instead of to Air Temple Island. She woke Lin up at eight in the morning when she felt her first contractions. “Lin!” she wailed, leaning over her bed as a contraction ripped through her. “Lin!”

“Mama?” her daughter asked. Toph could feel her lingering outside the door. 

“You know how to get to Uncle Sokka’s apartment, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Oh, _fuck_ ,” she swore, rocking forward on her feet to grab onto her bed post. “Go get him, now! Tell him the baby is coming! And be quick!”

“Okay, Mama!” 

Toph tried her best to focus on Lin’s movements, but once she got about a block away, Toph lost the feel of her, and another contraction came. Lin returned with Sokka half an hour later. “Toph!” Sokka shouted, running to her side. He placed his hand on her lower back. “Are you okay?”

“I’m in labor, meathead!” she roared. “Get me to the fucking clinic!”

“Shit! I mean, shoot! Okay. Uh, Lin! Get a bag and put some of your mom’s clothes in there. Toph, I’m gonna carry you, okay?”

“Whatever! Just get me to a fucking healer!”

“Right, okay.” He placed one arm behind her neck and the other behind her knees and hoisted her up bridal style. “Lin, do you have the bag?”

“Yes!” 

“Okay, good. Put that on your back for me, just like that, perfect. Now climb onto my back, come on now.”

Toph could feel Sokka’s heart racing, and she felt fear lick up her spine. “Sokka, what’s wrong?” she asked, worried there was something amiss that she couldn’t hear or feel. 

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m getting you to the clinic.” She heard her apartment door close, and Sokka grunted as he took off into the city. She didn’t know how he was managing to carry both her and Lin, but it wasn’t the time to question his workout regime. 

“You’re scared. Your heart is pounding. What’s wrong? What’s happening? What can’t I see?” she demanded, fear making her voice go up an octave. 

“Of course I’m scared! You’re in labor! I’m worried.”

Toph didn’t have time to comment, as another contraction came. They were getting closer together. 

“It’s okay, Mama,” Lin said. “Uncle Sokka will get us to the healer.”

Toph bit her tongue and nodded, digging her nails into Sokka’s arms as the pain increased. They made it to the clinic in about twenty minutes, and Toph could still feel Sokka’s heart pounding, both from the run and the worry. He was sweating, too, and panting. “Let me go back with you,” he begged as a healer helped him put Toph into a wheelchair. 

“No! Stay with Lin!” Toph demanded.

“Toph-”

“Sokka I swear to the fucking spirits, if you leave Lin alone, I will kill you!”

“I can show you to the waiting room, Councilman,” a healer said, and Toph was wheeled away. As much as she did want Sokka with her when she gave birth, she didn’t want Lin to see too much, so she had to do this alone. 

Toph didn’t feel Sokka come into the room with Lin asleep on his shoulder after it was all said and done because her legs were tucked up in the hospital bed, and she was entirely enraptured by her youngest daughter’s strong heart beat. “Hey,” Sokka said softly. 

Toph flinched, just slightly, not hard enough to disturb her sleeping baby. “Hi.”

“Does Lin have a brother or a sister?” he asked. She heard the floorboards creak beneath his weight as he crept closer. 

“A sister. Her name is Suyin.” 

“Hello, Suyin. I’m your Uncle Sokka,” he whispered. 

“Do you want to hold her?” Toph asked, voice just as quiet. 

“Can I?”

“Of course. Where’s Lin?”

“Asleep on my shoulder,” Sokka answered.

“Lay her down next to me.”

Sokka transferred Lin to the bed, and Toph adjusted her body so her daughter could curl up under her arm. She passed Suyin to Sokka. She heard him begin to pace, probably bouncing the baby in his arms as she had felt him do with each of Aang and Katara’s kids and with Lin. “She’s beautiful,” he said. 

“Of course she is, she’s mine,” Toph joked, a smile playing at her lips. 

“Her eyes are blue.” 

Cold dread sank into her stomach. Sokka couldn’t know. No one could. “Are they?”

“A dark blue. Tenzin’s were too, at first, before they faded to gray. I’m sure Su’s eyes will be green like yours in no time.” 

She let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “Su?” she repeated. 

“Nicknames aren’t just your foray, you know.”

“Okay, Captain Boomerang,” she said. She pulled Lin a little closer, buried her face in her hair, and just breathed. 

“Toph, tell me the truth,” Sokka said quietly. Toph couldn’t feel his heart, not with her feet pulled up on the bed. 

“About what?”

“Is she mine? Is Su my daughter?”

Toph wondered what it was about her new baby that made Sokka ask again. Maybe Su looked like Sokka, or maybe it was just a feeling. Sokka had never lied to Toph. Not once. Not even white lies or lies of omission. But Sokka could never know, so Toph kept her face in Lin’s hair and answered, “No, she’s not.”

* * *

Sokka knew. He definitely did. Toph couldn’t see it, but as Su got older, people began to comment on her complexion and her nose, and how they reminded them of the Water Tribe. Even Aang made an offhand comment once about how much Su looked like she was from the Water Tribe. 

Sokka didn’t say anything. That made it worse somehow. 

Toph brought the girls to visit Zuko when Su was just learning how to walk. Izumi, Lin, and Su played together in the courtyard while Toph and Zuko talked. 

“Su has your eyes, you know,” Zuko said. 

“That’s what everyone tells me.”

“But she has Sokka’s nose.”

Toph held her breath. 

“He told me what you guys did.”

“Does anyone-” 

Zuko cut her off. “I was the only one he told, and I haven’t told anyone else.” He paused, and Toph waited for the inevitable. “She’s his, isn’t she?”

Toph deflated. “Yes,” she whispered.

“I’m guessing only us two know that officially.”

“Yeah.”

“And it’ll stay that way, as long as you would like it to.”

“Thank you, Zuko.”

“Anything for my friends.” He took a deep breath. “But as Sokka’s friend as well, I need to say: you should tell him. He only suspects, but he doesn’t know for sure. It’s killing him.”

“He can’t know.”

“Why not?”

Toph shifted her feet along the ground, feeling out for her daughters. She could feel Su’s clumsy gait, the hesitation in each step she took, and Lin’s more assured one. Izumi walked like her father, light on her feet, but with her own air of confidence. “Sokka is busy with the Council. If people knew, it would be the end of his career. And it wouldn’t be fair to Lin. She’ll never know her father.”

“It sounds like you’re scared.”

“What?” Toph asked, head whipping around towards the sound of Zuko’s voice. 

“Sokka wouldn’t just be a father to Su, he’d be a father to Lin, too. You know that. And I’ve heard Lin talk about Sokka to Izumi. He’s already like a father to her.”

“Lin is not his responsibility.”

“He doesn’t see your daughters as responsibilities.” 

“Zuko,” she warned. 

“Why won’t you give him a chance?”

“I have to focus on my girls.” And every relationship she had ever been in had ended poorly. Lin’s father was a deadbeat, and the men before Kanto had been just as bad. But Toph was the common thread in all those relationships, and a part of her believed she was the reason none of them had worked out. She couldn’t ruin her friendship with Sokka, or burden Sokka with the responsibilities of fatherhood. She didn’t want to lose him, or force him into something just because he felt obligated as Su’s father. It wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t be right.

“You really think Sokka would try to draw your attention away from them?”

“Zuko, I’m done talking about this.”

“Toph-”

“I said we’re done,” she snapped. 

Zuko sighed. “I just want to see you guys be happy. I know you’ve loved him for a long time.”

“He’s one of my best friends. Of course I love him.”

“You know what I mean,” he said.

“He doesn’t feel the same.”

“How do you know?” 

“I just do.”

“You’re wrong,” Zuko told her. 

She huffed. “Even if I am, and I’m not, we could never be together. He’s going to be Chief of the Southern Water Tribe in a few years once Chief Hakoda steps down, and I will still be the Chief of Police. The long distance wouldn’t work, and I refuse to give Lin and Su a temporary father. And even if we could make that work, it would be a moot point because Sokka being with me would be career suicide, Zuko. You know that. He’d have to step down from the Council, and he’d never be allowed to take over after his dad. I’m not going to tell him and make him choose between his career and me.”

“Toph, how do you know it would ruin his career? I can’t imagine anyone really cares that much.”

“You don’t live in Republic City, Zuko. You don’t get it,” she hissed. 

“These all sound like excuses.”

“I don’t want to let him down, okay?” she admitted, sinking lower in her seat. 

She felt Zuko shift in his seat. “What?”

“I don’t want to let him down. I’m not perfect, Zuko, especially in relationships. I don’t know how to be good in them. And I refuse to hurt Sokka.”

“This is Sokka we’re talking about. He already knows all the best and worst things about you, Toph.”

She was tired, so fucking tired. “He can’t know he’s Su’s father. Zuko, you can’t tell him.”

“You know I won’t,” Zuko said. 

Toph sighed. “How did everything get so fucked up? It was so much easier during the War.”

Zuko laughed. “In hindsight, I guess it was nice to have an actual goal. Defeat my father and save the world. Easy.”

“Exactly. Being an adult is bullshit. Raising kids is hard.”

“Being a single parent is hard,” Zuko mumbled. 

“You’re doing okay. Izumi is amazing. She’s going to be a great Fire Lord one day,” Toph said. 

“And your kids are going to be great metal benders, I know it.” 

Toph punched him the arm. “Thanks, Zuko.”

“Of course.”

* * *

Toph was just starting to drift off to sleep when the door to her apartment slammed open. She jerked upright in her bed and quickly planted her feet on the ground. She felt her daughters’ heart beats and relaxed. It was just Lin and Su. She shifted her feet across the ground once more, and felt one more person: Sokka. She frowned. It had to be pretty late at night. Toph knew she had crawled into bed when the clock had struck midnight, and she had been going over what she needed to do at the precinct in the morning for about forty-five minutes. So it had to be nearing one AM. This could be interesting. 

“Do you guys wanna tell me what you were both doing out so late?” Sokka demanded, and his voice sounded harsh and angry. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Su snapped. 

Sokka had to be running his hands over his head. He did that when he was stressed and upset, and he certainly sounded like he was. “I’m an adult. I’m allowed to be out at bars with my friends.” Had her girls been at a bar? 

“I’m an adult, too!” Lin protested.

“Hardly,” Su sniffed. 

“What the fuck do you know? You’re barely thirteen,” Lin retorted. 

“Language!” Sokka warned.

“And you think that just because you have a job as pencil pusher with the police that you’re all high and mighty! Why did you even follow me out?”

“At least I’m doing something with my life! You’re hanging around those stupid boys who I _know_ are a part of the Terra Triad!” Lin shouted. “I followed you to make sure you wouldn’t get into any trouble!”

“Just because they’re a part of the Terra Triad doesn’t mean I am, _Officer Beifong_ ,” Su growled. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s back up a second,” Sokka interrupted. “The Terra Triad? That’s what you’re getting mixed up in, Su?”

“I’m not getting mixed up with anything! Spirits, Votuk and Tusu are just my friends.” 

“Friends who make you sneak out of the apartment in the middle of night and take you to a bar to try to buy some alcohol,” Lin muttered. 

“At least I have friends!”

“I do have friends!”

“Your boyfriend doesn’t count,” Su said. 

“We’re getting off topic!” Sokka yelled. “Both of you, sit down, _now_.” Toph felt Su and Lin sit down on the couch, and Sokka sat in the chair across from them. “Let’s start at the beginning: Su, did you or did you not sneak out of the house with the intent to buy alcohol?”

“I didn’t intend to do anything! Votuk and Tusu just asked me to come with them, and they’re my friends, so I agreed.” 

“Why didn’t you leave as soon as you knew what they were up to?” Lin demanded. 

“What do you care?” Su hissed. 

“Girls!” Sokka interrupted again. “Su, answer Lin’s question. Why didn’t you leave?”

“I didn’t wanna seem lame. It’s just alcohol. It’s not a big deal.”

“You’re only thirteen, Su. You shouldn’t even want to drink! You should want to be throwing rocks at people, like normal kids,” Sokka said. 

“Throwing rocks? Really?” Su asked. 

“That’s what your mom liked to do.”

“Well I’m not my mom,” Su said.

“You are both more like her than you think,” he muttered. “Su, you shouldn’t have snuck out and you definitely shouldn’t have been trying to buy alcohol. You understand why that’s wrong, correct?”

“I don’t see what the big deal is! Everyone drinks! You drink, Mom drinks, even Lin drinks!” Su protested.

“And we’re all adults,” Lin added. “You’re a kid.”

“Lin, shut the fuck up, I didn’t ask you!” Su snarled.

“Hey!” Sokka boomed, voice bouncing off the walls. “Watch your mouth! Su, you are not allowed to drink. Not until you’re eighteen. That’s the end of that.” 

“Mom never said I couldn’t.” 

“I’m telling you now,” Sokka told her.

“You’re not my dad, _Sokka_ ,” Su spat. 

“Su,” Lin warned.

“You’re right, I’m not, but I have been helping your mom raise you girls, and I’ve been here for you guys like a father would have, so I think I have some credibility in that department,” he said softly. 

Toph felt Su’s heart rate pick up. “Uncle Sokka, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

Sokka sighed. “I know you didn’t. I know it’s hard to grow up without a parent there. I can’t even remember what my mom looks like because she died when I was young. And my dad was the Chief of our village, and he had a lot of responsibilities. He always tried to be there for Katara and me, but it was hard. We were mainly raised by our grandmother, and then she took care of us completely when my dad left to fight in the War when I was thirteen. I know what you guys are going through. Your mom is doing her best to raise you girls on her own, and I know she’s kind of lax with the rules she sets. Toph wants you guys to have the freedom she never did when she was growing up.” 

“What do you mean?” Lin asked. “She grew up traveling the world with the Avatar. How much more free could she get?” 

“She only started training and traveling with Aang when she was twelve. Before that, not even her parents knew how good of an earth bender she was,” Sokka explained. “Her parents treated her like glass because they thought she was helpless just because she’s blind.”

“Really?” Su said.

“She had to sneak away from her guards and her parents to join Aang, Katara, and I, and then her parents sent people after us to try to get her back. That was when she invented metal bending, to get away. I can’t believe she never told you guys.” 

“Anytime I’ve asked her about the War and how she invented metal bending she always just said, ‘I trained the Avatar, he sucked at earth bending, and then he got okay at it, and then I got put in a metal box so I decided to invent metal bending,’” Lin explained.

Sokka laughed. “That sounds like her.”

“I guess I kind of understand now,” Lin started. “Growing up, I always thought it was because she didn’t care about us, why we didn’t really have rules or anything.” 

“She loves you girls more than anything,” Sokka said. “She knows you guys are good people, that’s why she trusts you to make good decisions. Your mom isn’t perfect, but she’s doing the best with what she has.” Toph felt her cheeks go pink at Sokka’s praise. “You girls certainly don’t make it easy when you fight all the time.” 

“That’s all Lin’s fault!” Su exclaimed.

“Are you being serious right now?” Lin snapped. 

“Spirits, I try to have a nice moment with you guys and tell you about your mom and you start fighting! You’re both old enough to know better at this point!” Sokka shouted.

“You try growing up with Lin,” Su muttered. 

“Try growing up with Katara,” Sokka said. “I know having a sister isn’t easy, but you guys are family. You know each other better than anyone. You gotta be there for each other.”

“I don’t need Lin,” Su said.

“Yes you do! Who else will keep you out of jail?” Lin yelled.

“I swear, Katara and I never fought like this,” Sokka said. 

Toph stepped out of her room and into the living room. “You guys did,” she said.

“Uh, hi, Mom,” Su said sheepishly. 

“Did we wake you up?” Sokka asked.

“Of course you guys did. You weren’t trying to be quiet.”

“How much did you hear?” Su asked.

“Enough to know you tried to buy alcohol.” She felt Su sink down in her chair. “You’re lucky your sister and Sokka were there. You could have gotten into a lot of trouble.” 

“Yeah, you’re lucky,” Lin repeated. 

“Lin,” Toph warned. “Both of you, go to bed. I’ll deal with you in the morning.”

“But-” Lin began. 

“In the morning, when we’ve all had time to calm down. We’ll have a family meeting,” Toph said. 

“Fine,” Lin grumbled and stomped off to her room. 

Toph grabbed Su by her arm as she passed. “Don’t even think about sneaking out again tonight. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. Off to bed.” Su slunk off into her room and shut the door. Toph sighed and collapsed onto the couch where her girls had just been sitting. “Thank you, Sokka.”

“Huh? For what?” he asked. Now that the girls were gone, he sounded exhausted. 

“Being there for our girls.”

“Our girls?”

She laughed. “What you said earlier, you were right. You have been like a father to them. I don’t know what I would have done without all your help.”

“Oh,” he whispered.

“So thank you.” 

Toph heard the chair creak as Sokka stood up, and then he was sitting down on the couch next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He smelled like rum and sweat and a little bit like the arctic ocean. She laid her head on his shoulder and draped her arm over his stomach. She could feel his heart beating. “I meant what I said,” he told her. 

“About what?”

Their hearts seemed to beat in tandem, steady as ever. “You are doing the best with what you have. I think you’re a great mom, Toph. You’ve raised two wonderful girls.”

“I had some help,” she said quietly. 

“You know I’m always gonna be here for you and your girls, even if they’re not mine.”

“I know.”

There was a jump in Sokka’s heart rate, before it slowed back down. “Su’s not- She’s not mine, is she?”

Toph tightened her arm around Sokka’s stomach, and turned her face into his neck. His pulse pounded against her cheek, slow, steady, and strong. “We’re all yours, Sokka.”

He pulled her closer, and rubbed his thumb over her collarbone. “I’m yours, too, you know.” 

His heart kept beating the same, familiar song. He was telling the truth, as he always did with her. “Yeah, I know.”

* * *

Toph’s head was pounding, and she wanted nothing more than to get so drunk she couldn’t remember her name. Actually, she wanted to start the whole fucking day over, and tell Su to have the common fucking knowledge to _not_ get arrested by her own fucking sister, but she very well couldn’t do that, so she’d get drunk instead. 

She had already sent Lin with Tenzin to Air Temple Island to see if Katara could do anything about the cuts on Lin’s cheek, and Su had packed her bags and left about an hour ago. She had plenty of time to drink, she thought, until she felt Sokka approach her apartment door.

“Toph, what the fuck did you do?” Sokka shouted, barging into the apartment without any warning. 

“Not now, Sokka,” she said, grabbing a bottle of liquor from her cabinet. 

“Yes, _now_ , Toph. You sent Su away?”

“It’s none of your business! How did you know anyway?”

“Lin told me when she and Tenzin got back to Air Temple Island. Lin refused to let Katara heal the cuts, so she’s gonna scar. And you know damn well it is my business!” he yelled. 

“And why is that?” Toph demanded, spinning around to face the general direction she could feel Sokka in. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Su’s my daughter, too, I deserve a say in what happens.”

“You didn’t raise her! I did!”

“Bullshit!” he growled. 

“I’m her mother, Sokka! Republic City isn’t _good_ for her. She’s getting mixed up with the wrong people and I can’t be the Chief of Police with a daughter in prison!”

“So instead of parenting her, you sent her away. You put your _job_ before Su?”

“You’re not a parent, Sokka! You don’t get it,” Toph snapped. “She’s sixteen and more than capable of surviving. She’ll be okay.” 

“Are you sure I’m not a parent, Toph? Are you sure about that? Because it sure feels like I did _everything_ for your girls that a father would have, the only difference is that they call me Uncle Sokka instead of Dad!” 

“I am their mother. I raised them. They’re _mine_.”

“Stop lying to me!” 

“I’m not!” Toph roared. 

She felt Sokka’s heart rate pick up. In turn, so did hers. “Am I Suyin’s father?”

“No,” she spat.

“Why won’t you tell me the truth?” he asked quietly. All the anger seemed to disappear. 

“It doesn’t matter now does it? Su is traveling the world. She won’t be getting into trouble anymore.”

“It matters. It matters to me.”

“Why?”

Sokka’s voice cracked when he spoke. “Because I’ve proven myself at every opportunity. I’ve been there for you and Lin and Su for as long as I can remember, and I was there for you before you were even a mom, Toph. I’ve been here for you since you were twelve. Is that not enough? Am I still not enough?” 

Toph refused to cry. She wouldn’t. “I never wanted to burden you with responsibility.”

“You think you and your girls are a burden? Toph,” he whispered. 

“I was never going to put you in a situation where you would be forced to choose. And I was never going to trap you by telling you the truth,” she said softly. 

“Trap me?”

“Please leave,” she whispered.

“Toph, what do you mean trap me? What’s the truth? Please, I need to hear it.”

“Sokka, it’s over. Please, just leave,” she told him, voice wavering.

“Toph-”

“Get out!” she screamed. “Get out, get out, get out!”

Toph waited until she could no longer feel Sokka’s heart beat before she broke down in tears.

* * *

Hakoda stepped down as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe a few weeks later, and Sokka took his place. Toph stood next to Lin with Aang, Katara, Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin as they saw him off to head to the Southern Water Tribe. “Tell Dad I say hello,” Katara said, hugging him tight. 

“I will,” Sokka promised, laughing. “You guys better come visit.”

“We will, Uncle Sokka,” Kya said. 

“I’m going to miss you,” Toph heard Lin admit when Sokka pulled her in for a hug. “Who’s gonna take my side when Mom and I get into fights?”

Sokka chuckled. “I’ve always got your back, kid, no matter where I am. Be good to your mom, though, okay? I have a feeling she’s gonna need you.”

“Mom’s never needed anybody.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Lin laughed. “I’ll do my best. Take care of yourself down there.”

“You know I will. I’ll write to you.”

“Thank you.”

“You know I love you, Lin,” Sokka told her.

“Yeah,” Lin said. “You too.” 

He hugged Toph last. “Don’t stir up too much trouble down there,” she told him, aiming for lightheartedness. They hadn’t talked much since Toph sent Su away, and Toph wasn’t sure what to say. 

“I won’t make any promises,” Sokka said. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight. She buried her face in his neck and breathed deep. She could feel his pulse, steady and strong and always there for her. He let go too soon, and then he was gone.

* * *

Toph felt Lin approach her office door, and called out, “Come in,” before her daughter could knock. 

“No one can sneak up on you, huh?” Lin asked as she stepped into the office. 

“You should know that better than anyone.”

“Mom, is what people are saying true?” 

Toph sighed. “You’re gonna have to be more specific, Lin.”

“Are you retiring?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m stepping down in a few weeks. Deputy Harron will be taking over as Chief.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I knew you’d find out, so I didn’t want to waste my breath,” she said.

She felt Lin’s heart rate pick up. “Are you really still mad at me?”

“Mad at you? For what?” Toph asked. 

“Arresting Su.” 

“I was never mad, Lin.”

“Well you did a good job acting like it.”

Carbon fucking copy. “That wasn’t easy for me, and you girls put me in a tough position.”

“I was just doing my job! Su attacked me, and you’re still taking her side?” Lin growled. 

“I’m not taking any sides! There are no sides! The only person at fault here is me. I should have raised you girls better. I could have done better.”

A little of the anger seemed to leave Lin. “You did what you could with what you had.”

“Probably would have been easier if there was a father in the picture,” Toph admitted. 

“Sokka was always there.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not anymore, and neither is Su.”

There was a pregnant pause, during which Toph felt Lin’s heart start racing, and her breathing pick up just a little bit. “Mom… I’ve been meaning to ask…”

“Ask what?”

“You and Sokka… Is he- I know he’s not my dad, but is he Su’s?”

“Sokka was like a father to both of you girls,” Toph began, “but he’s only Su’s biological dad.”

“They don’t know, do they?” Lin whispered.

“The only people who know are me and Zuko, and now you. This is to never leave this room. Do you understand me?”

“But-”

“Lin, you cannot tell Sokka or your sister.”

Lin crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t even talk to Su.”

“You should,” Toph told her.

“Why can’t they know?”

“I have my reasons, Lin. Do not tell them,” she demanded, voice hard. “They can’t know,” she added more softly. 

“I won’t tell, but for the record I think it’s stupid of you to keep it from them.”

Toph ground her teeth together. “Duly noted. Now get out of my office.”

The door clicked shut behind Lin, and Toph felt like beating her head against her desk.

* * *

Toph went alone when Su called and told her she had given birth to Toph’s first grandchild, Baatar Jr. “He has my nose,” Su told her, handing the baby to Toph. “But I think he has his father’s eyes.”

Toph almost told her then. It would have been so easy. _“I’m told you’re the opposite. You have my eyes and Sokka’s nose.”_ But she kept her mouth shut, and just held her grandson a little tighter. 

She stayed in Zaofu for a few weeks before she traveled back to Republic City. Sokka was waiting for her in her apartment, sitting at her kitchen table. “I didn’t know you were in town,” Toph said as she closed the door behind her. 

“Surprise visit to see Katara. She told me you were coming back today, so I decided to stay and see you.”

“It’s been a while.” Nearly ten years. Aang and Katara had tried getting Toph to open up to them about what had happened between her and Sokka that made it so they weren’t talking as much anymore, but Toph refused, and it seemed Sokka wasn’t telling them either. They eventually gave up, deciding that Toph and Sokka would have to work it out on their own. Zuko had just given Toph looks she could feel, but couldn’t see, every time she visited him. She hated it. 

“How’s Su?” Sokka asked. Toph knew that Sokka kept in touch with Lin and Su. Su had told her as much when Toph visited. 

“She’s good. She had a baby boy.”

“I’ll have to call and tell her congratulations then.”

“Apparently Baatar Jr. has her nose,” Toph said. _Which means he looks a little like you, Sokka._

“Oh?”

“Sokka…”

“Yeah, Toph?”

The apartment was so quiet she felt her ears start ringing. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s the worst part, Toph; I know you are.” He sighed, and she felt him get to his feet. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, chin resting on her head. He’d always been so tall, or maybe she was just short. “It would be so much easier if you weren’t sorry.”

“I couldn’t ruin your life.”

“You wouldn’t have.” Sokka squeezed her tighter and kissed the crown of her head. “And it would have been my decision to make. I would have gladly seen my life ruined for you girls.”

“Don’t say that, Sokka. Please don’t.”

“But it’s true.”

Toph knew that. She could feel the truth in his heartbeat.

* * *

When Su was ten, Sokka was visiting the apartment like he always did a couple of days a week to see the girls and Toph. He was playing with Su while Toph was helping Lin with her metal bending by using her meteorite bracelet. “Uncle Sokka,” Su began in the other room, voice low, but not low enough that Toph couldn’t hear.

“Mhmm?” Sokka hummed.

“Do you know who my dad is?”

Toph froze. 

“Mom?” Lin said. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, sorry. Try to focus on the bits of earth in the meteorite, Lin. That’s what you’re bending.”

She felt Lin drop into a lower stance and start again.

In the other room, Su was asking, “Who is he?”

Sokka answered, “Your mom would have to tell you.”

“She won’t. I’ve asked before,” Su mumbled. “Did you ever meet him?”

“Yes.”

“Is he good?”

Sokka took a minute to reply. “I know he loves you and Lin very much. He loves your mom, too. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to protect you guys.”

“Why isn’t he here?”

“I think he’s closer than you think.”

“You really think he loves us?” Su asked. 

“I know he does, Su.”

“Mom?” Lin asked. 

Toph hadn’t realized Lin had been listening to what Sokka and Su were talking about, too. “You heard all that too, then?” Toph said. She pulled the meteorite back to her and formed it back into a bracelet. 

“Is he telling the truth?” 

Toph stepped towards her daughter, and took her hand. “Sokka never lies. Not to us.”

* * *

Toph hated snow. She had to wear shoes so her toes wouldn’t freeze off, so she couldn’t see. She couldn’t even feel Katara directly beside her, or Kya a little behind the two of them. She heard Zuko and Sokka’s approach, though, and she rocked forward on the balls of her feet in anticipation. Zuko’s dragon, Druk, landed close enough that Toph could feel the vibrations even through the snow and with shoes on. She didn’t feel Zuko slip off the dragon, alone. 

"Zuko, where’s Sokka?” Katara asked, and Toph felt her heart plummet.

“Sokka’s not there?” she said.

“No, he isn’t,” Kya answered softly. 

“Zuko?” Katara repeated. 

“I couldn’t… I’m sorry.”

* * *

Toph held one of her newest grandchildren, Wei, in her arms. Su was rocking Wing not too far away. “Mom?” Su asked, voice light and tired. 

“Yeah?”

“I know… I know you never told me before, but maybe… I was just wondering…”

“Spit it out, Su.”

“You raised Lin and I on your own. I couldn’t… I couldn’t imagine raising these kids without Baatar. And… Whenever I try to picture who my dad could have been, only Sokka comes to mind.”

Sokka’s funeral had been the month before, and Toph had been staying in Zaofu since then. He was buried at sea in a traditional Water Tribe warrior burial. Toph had held onto a squirming Huan for the whole service. Huan’s heart felt just like Sokka’s. 

Wei made a noise of discontent, and Toph was quick to start bouncing slightly to soothe him, like Sokka had done with both Lin and Su when they had been young. “He was as close to a father as you and Lin ever got.” 

“Huan has his face shape. I have his nose. I’ve always been darker than you and Lin.”

“I wouldn’t know. I can’t see.”

“ _Mom._ ”

Toph stayed quiet. 

“Sokka said that he knew my father loved me and Lin very much.”

“I remember,” Toph said. Wei’s heart rate slowed down as he slipped into sleep.

“Did you love Sokka?”

“Yes.” 

“Was he my father?”

Despite it all, Toph still hesitated. “He was there for all of us. I would say that he was in some way.”

Su huffed. “Was Sokka my biological dad?”

Toph laid Wei down in his crib, keeping her hand over his chest to make sure his heart rate stayed steady, before pulling away. “Yes.”

“Does Lin know?”

“Yes, and Zuko.”

“Lin knows? Why didn’t you tell me?” Su asked. She didn’t sound mad, just upset. Toph hated it.

“I was afraid. I didn’t want to ruin his life.”

“You thought I would ruin his life?” And there was the anger. 

“ _No_ , Suyin, I thought I would.” 

“Mom…” 

“I can’t change my past actions. There’s nothing to be done about any of it now. But Sokka did love you. He loved all of us.” 

“I know. Sokka never lies.”

“Not to us,” Toph finished. 

“Not to us,” Su repeated. Toph felt her lay Wing down next to Wei. 

Toph could feel Su’s heart rate, could feel her other grandchildren in the house. If she tried, she could feel everyone in Zaofu, but she just focused on her family. “I’m sorry I never told you.”

“Did you ever tell Sokka?”

“After Baatar Junior was born. Or maybe it was when you were sixteen. But he knew.” 

“Why did he never tell me?”

“Because he knew I wasn’t ready for you to know yet. But Sokka was proud of you. He always was. And I’m proud of you, too.”

When Su wrapped her arms Toph, Toph could swear she felt Sokka’s spirit with them. She felt it in her daughter’s heart beat. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this! You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/switchbucky) and [tumblr](https://expecto-weasleys.tumblr.com/).


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